Ok to feed baby BP how often?

[EmiLee]

Hi!
First of all want to say that I am so grateful that my lil guy is eating again. Thanks to a lot of advice here on this forum he began eating about a month and a half ago. HOWEVER, now he's like an eating machine lol. He wants snack all the time. I began him off on a live medium size mouse. Then transferred him over to f/t mouse. Then over to small f/t rat pup, then larger and larger. He is now up to eating a rat about the size of belly, maybe a little smaller. When I was giving him smaller prey I would feed him every 3-4 days because he'd still be hungry. Last time I fed him what seems to be the right size for him, I mean he was VERY stretched out, the skin on his neck, I have a hard time seeing feed him any larger than this because of how small his head still is. Thing is, three days later he's HUNGRY! Last night he came out looking at me, noodling all over his cage. I woke up briefly in the night, and he saw me and gave me the "im hungry please feed me look".

How often is ok to feed a 3 month old baby BP? Some people say once a week, I know the breeder did every 3 days or so when he was younger. He is around 400 grams so he's growing fast for his age. Its been three days since I fed him, and I'd feel bad for him to wait another 3 days when he's asking for more food... Someone on my IG account mentioned that he looks a little chunky though so also don't want to overfeed him.

Suggestions for the hungry noodle guy?

[EmiLee]

This is his size a couple of weeks ago after he shed. His a bit chunkier than this now though. Lets see if I can post a better photo at some point today. Just have to upload it somewhere else as I can't figure out how to upload directly to this forum...

[Craiga 01453]

At that weight you're safe feeding one appropriately sized meal every 7 days. There's definitely no need to feed more often than that.

[pretends2bnormal]

IMO, you're asking for problems by feeding like this. Regurgitation, the issue more common to boas with growing so fast the organs collapse, etc.

This is powerfeeding and is BAD for snakes of all kinds. (Powerfeeding includes huge meals AND feeding overly frequently, and also includes both simultaneously)

BPs should be fed every 7 days a single prey item weighing 10-15% of their weight while growing and maxing males at a small rat every 1 to 2 weeks and females at medium rats every 1 to 2 weeks.

I know some people feed every 5 days for fuzzy rats due to lower fur/easier digestion, but personally I wouldn't even do that often. This snake is well beyond that stage anyway and should be eating weekly at most.



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[EmiLee]

Ok thanks for responses. He has to wait until Sunday then! Is it pretty normal for them to get this hungry half way through the week?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

There is really no need to feed more than once a week, snakes are often overfed in captivity and if you feed a BP too often what will happen is that in no time he will fast again to catch up.

So to avoid frustrations feed on a weekly schedule and every now and then even skip a week.

[Joci]

Ok thanks for responses. He has to wait until Sunday then! Is it pretty normal for them to get this hungry half way through the week?

In comparison to humans or other mammals, snakes need meals a lot less frequently to be healthy. At first this can be a bit unnerving, seeing as we humans are used to eating multiple times a day or whenever we feel hungry, but I really wouldn’t worry about the “begging”

In fact, I’d take it as a good sign. Your snake is showing interest in eating which, for me at least, is reassuring because there’s a real good chance that he’ll be ready the next time you offer food. Overall, as the others have said, it’s a lot better for his health to only eat one appropriately sized meal once a week.